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| White Marble Shakyamuni |
Over the years I have invited into our home Buddhas from almost every country where Buddhist iconography blossomed and my antique Buddhas stand and sit alongside more contemporary statues, Last year I made several trips to Burma and was blown away by the amazing craftsmanship there. The Buddha statues whether sculpted out of marble, jade or wood have incredibly serene expressions and almost perfect proportions ... so I arranged to welcome some amazing pieces I found in Mandalay.
I arranged to invite three large statues into my home, the first a 15ft high exquisitely carved image of a seated Shakyamuni Buddha that weighed four tonnes as it was carved out of one solid piece of white marble. This lovely statue I gave to my daughter for the new home we are building for her. I told her that she and her family are still young and perhaps do not have enough karmic merit yet to live in such a big mansion so it is very auspicious to invite in a big Buddha and then offer the home to the Buddha. Jennifer loved these sentiments and gratefully accepted, so we shall be officially consecrating this amazingly inspiring Buddha statue soon. So auspicious to welcome the Dragon year with such a beautiful holy object!
But for me, inviting the additional two Buddhas into my home last year was more important. The previous year of the Rabbit was quite challenging for me being born a Rooster - I had to put up with the Three Killings, the Natural Disaster Star as well as the confrontation with the Tai Sui, so I was sick throughout the year. Luckily, I was well protected so the illnesses were inconvenient and annoying but not life-threatening. I felt I needed my beautiful white marble Buddhas who are beautiful beyond words to be in my home!
Shakyamuni Buddha sits in my garden facing Northeast casting his gentle gaze over my living spaces and radiating blessings into my home. You can recognize Shakyamuni by the touching the earth right hand mudra.
This symbolic hand gesture bears testimony to the time when Buddha, sitting under the Bodhi tree meditating was disturbed by the maras who being unable to distract Buddha from his concentration then attempted to belittle Buddha saying, "what makes you think you can attain enlightenment!" ... and instantly the Earth Goddess Durga arose from the ground to bear testimony to Lord Buddhas many previous lives lived in purity towards the attainment of enlightenment. Thereupon, Buddha touched his right hand fingers to the ground in acknowledgement.
Since then, all statues of Shakyamuni are shown with this touching earth mudra. I have learnt that just seeing the image of Shakyamuni and saying the words "BUDDHA" under your breath is sufficient to bring one the blessings of this great historical teaching Buddha who came to earth to deliver 84,000 teachings, which have all been recorded in the sutras. Buddha has always declared that it is IGNORANCE that is the cause of all suffering so it is just so important to gain wisdom and knowledge.
It was Shakyamuni Buddha also who opened the world's eyes to the multiple Buddhas of this eon. It was Shakyamuni who introduced us to the Diyani Buddhas - the five element Buddhas of the four directions and the center. These are the ethereal Buddhas and the power of their amazing cosmic blessings cannot ever be fully described.
It took us four hours just to transfer the Buddhas from my gate into my garden because the marble was so heavy. But I felt their blessings the moment they were settled into my garden. Now with the lights in place and the offerings nicely put into position, I can really feel the presence of these mighty holy beings. Their symbolic presence inside my home makes it easy for me to visualize their presence - to see these Buddhas not with my eyes but with my mind. They are such a fabulous aid to meditation and as the great Guru Rinpoche taught us:
"Listen Beautiful one, having the form of a Goddess,
Those sentient beings who have not met me
The statues of me in the future will become the light
That eliminate the darkness of ignorance.
Whoever has such statues of me
That become Objects for making offerings
All their future lives will become meaningful
And whoever generates the wish of devotional respect
All their wishes will come true like piles of jewels
There is no increasing or decreasing
Unchangeably, filled with bliss."
It has been fifteen years now since I first learnt about the magic of welcoming the Buddhas into my home. My books on feng shui had caught the attention of this highest of high lamas - Lama Zopa Rinpoche. He had contacted me from out of the blue. We met and recognized each other. Rinpoche told me we had been close in a past life. I am sure all of Rinpoche's thousands of students around the world must also have known him in a past life but I consider myself truly blessed that we made contact. Over the years Rinpoche taught me a great deal.
Like me, Rinpoche, had a great belief in fengshui and although he never ever said so directly, he also taught me a great deal about spiritual fengshui, explaining to me how beneficial it was to offer food, prayers and incense to the pretas, maras, nagas - spirits of the cosmic realm. Why? Because otherwise who would offer food for them and who would say prayers for them?
And Rinpoche taught me also about gold-leafing - offering gold to the Buddhas, about making tsatsas - creating images of the Buddhas, about making incense offerings, chanting mantras, reading sutras and much more. Many of these are methods directly engage the application of spiritual feng shui. These rituals complement the time and space feng shui and bound ether, brings us the causes and conditions to live free of obstacles and blessed with good fortune.
Thus we can have the time, the money and the capability to help others! Then Rinpoche showed me how to keep piling up the merit to be able to continually enjoy success - and inviting the Buddhas into your home he said was one of the easiest ways of creating merit! Thus I share this story of my new Buddhas from Burma with you. To find out more, you can check out Inviting Shakyamuni and Amitabha To Stay With Us.